Four ways to build your product. Here's where each wins.
We're not the right choice for every founder. This page shows honestly where Strange Tech beats the alternatives — and where it doesn't. Read it before you book a call.
| Feature | Freelancer Contractor / gun-for-hire | Dev Shop Traditional agency | In-House Hire Full-time CTO + team | Strange Tech Venture studio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost & speed | ||||
| Typical cash outlay to start | £3–8K | £40–150K | £200K+ / yr | From £14K + equity, or £20K cash-only |
| Time to shipped MVP | 3–9 months, variable | 6–12 months | 3–6 months hiring, then build | 8–14 weeks |
| Ongoing cost after launch | Per hour | New SOW each time | Payroll indefinitely | Optional retainer or handover |
| What's included | ||||
| Product strategy | ||||
| UX + UI design | ||||
| Full-stack engineering | ||||
| Architecture that scales past Series A | ||||
| Investor + fundraising documentation | ||||
| Rescue an existing broken codebase | ||||
| Alignment & risk | ||||
| Financial alignment with your outcome | ||||
| Equity option available | ||||
| Can pause / stop cleanly | ||||
| Own the code + IP from day one | ||||
| Multi-continent delivery (UK · UAE · USA) | ||||
| Team you actually get | ||||
| Senior CTO / CPO level input | ||||
| Full product team (not one person) | ||||
| No offshoring or bait-and-switch to juniors | ||||
| Same team from first call to launch | ||||
When to pick each option
Pick a freelancer when
You have a well-defined feature to add to an existing product, you already have technical leadership, and the scope is small enough to hand off cleanly.
Pick a traditional dev shop when
You have complete requirements documented, no need for strategy input, and you're happy trading long-term ownership of the architecture for a fixed-fee delivery.
Pick in-house hiring when
You're past product-market fit, have raised enough to carry payroll for 18+ months, and can spend three months hiring before shipping anything.
Pick Strange Tech when
You're a capitalised founder with an idea and want to compress the timeline from idea to funded product. You want owner-level thinking without paying full-time salaries — and the option to keep us on as fractional CTO/CPO after launch.
Read the comparison?
Book the call.
If Strange Tech looks like the fit, book 30 minutes. If not, we'll point you at the option that is.